Pam brings more than 25 years of experience in the nonprofit/voluntary sector as a consultant, executive director, teacher, scholar and volunteer. Her experience as a consultant to nonprofit organizations began shortly after college when she began training volunteers who worked in volunteer-led shelters for homeless men, women and families in Atlanta, GA. Since that time, she has worked with local, regional and national organizations on a variety of issues but with the underlying purpose of building capacity toward greater mission achievement.
Pam completed her PhD in Urban Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Delaware. She has an MA in Holistic Spirituality from Chestnut Hill College, an MS in Urban Studies from Georgia State University and a BA in Journalism from the University of Georgia. She resides in Kennett Square, PA, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of The Hickman, a Quaker retirement community in West Chester, PA.
Immediately prior to the formation of The Leland Leadership Group, LLC, Pam was an Associate Professor in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Delaware. She continues to teach at UD as an Adjunct Faculty member. She has also served on the faculties of Seton Hall University and Marywood University. Interspersed with her academic work were periods when she worked as an executive director, interim director, director of development and planner for a number of nonprofit entities.
As a former faculty member, she is nationally recognized for her work in the field of nonprofit sector and philanthropic studies. She was elected to serve two terms as an officer in the field’s pre-eminent scholarly association, the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA). As a former board member and Vice President of the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC), she led the effort to create the first-ever curriculum guidelines for graduate programs in nonprofit management and leadership, and co-chaired the effort to articulate indicators of quality for nonprofit academic centers. Her research on issues of accountability and charitable tax exemption has been published in both academic and practitioner publications and has led to speaking engagements in local, regional and national venues.
Dr. Leland is known as an effective teacher, trainer and facilitator and was the Founder of ARNOVA’s Section on Teaching. She has also published in the areas of teaching, prejudice reduction and community-based research methods.